Poem of a wooden chest and a sepia portraitA new poem from Tamar Zhghenti for my website Rainy Day Healing ...
Georgian poet Tamar Zhghenti is Poet in Residence on my “Rainy Day Healing” website. She shares with us her recent poem Inside the chest, written in October 2024. When I read the title of Tamar’s new poem, my first thought was of a heart – maybe beating, maybe beaten, maybe broken, maybe bleeding. It evoked memories before had even read the first line. Read it as you wish … - Martina, October 2024 INSIDE THE CHEST Fishtail braids and a lace collar, gazing sidelong — Can't recognize you, Mom! Funny this picture should be at Dad’s, and inside this wooden chest as well, right alongside his for-funeral photo. Pencil moustache, military cut and all, yet he feels familiar unlike you, even though I first saw Dad already bearded and old. How snug, how odd! — Like a brown pansy beneath a snowy oak, Your petite sepia portrait rests below his grand monochrome. "Your dad is dead. To us both. No matter when he goes to the grave, son." That's all you ever gave me, Mom. No facts, no clues. And now, look at you! Locked side by side In the earthy scent of aged cellulose. Who arranged it this way, Mom? Not his missus, for sure. It’s your doing, Dad, I know. "Didn't trouble you in life, and I won't in death, This chest holds all I'll need when I pass." — And here they are, your final needs, neatly grouped: A flannel suit. Veteran medals. Brogue shoes. The exclusive right of burial. A roll of banknotes. Even the guest list for the funeral, and the portrait, of course. But what the hell is she doing here, Dad? "When you leave, you leave for good," — is what you said. So, why this sudden change of heart? Or were you keeping her inside all these years? And how am I to bury all this now? Can't be. Not Mom. Doesn't look like. No.
INSIDE THE CHEST: OCTOBER 2024 in Rainy Day Healing website Tamar Zhghenti: Facebook Martina Nicolls RAINY DAY HEALING: Rainy Day Healing Rainy Day Healing POET IN RESIDENCE: POET IN RESIDENCE Rainy Day Healing POP UP POETRY: POP UP POETRY You're currently a free subscriber to The Stories in You and Me . For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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